


Hope Over Despair

by GhostsThough



Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, F/M, Work Up For Adoption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-16 08:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7259476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostsThough/pseuds/GhostsThough
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Toothiana wanted for her eighteenth birth was to see the lights with her father, Pitch Black. What she did not account for was for a bandit to climb into her tower or to hold said bandit's sword hostage until he took her to see the lights or (and this is the best one) to fall in love. But she did. Oh, father will be furious!<br/>(A ROTG/Tangled AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by thefrenchgalsart’s art for a ROTG x Tangled AU where Toothiana is Rapunzel, Baby Tooth is Pascal, North is Eugene, Seraphina is the flower and Pitch is Gothel (their art is amazing, go check it out!), which I found on pinterest after one google search. After I started writing this, I discovered they had a blog for this AU and while I did look at the art, I did not stop to read over the backstories of the characters. Therefore, I did not take any of their ideas besides who the characters Toothiana, North, Seraphina and Pitch replace.  
> Anyway, there are lines from the movie in here, but I changed them up a bit (so there’s no singing and hopefully nothing that sounds like it) to make them at least half my own.  
> All the characters are a fusion of their movie and book counterparts. However, you do not need any knowledge of the books to be able to follow the story, but please note that there will be characters you do not know unless you have read the books. As for my last two warnings, there will be North x Tooth (they are my OTP) and while I did research on India for this story, please just consider this a part of the historical fantasy genre. I do not have an idea of when this story takes place and basically the kingdom Haroom and Rashmi rule is nonexistent.

This is the story of a girl named Toothiana and it started with the Moon.

According to legend, there was once a single drop of moonlight that fell from the heavens and from this small drop of moon, grew a magic, black petunia that could healing anything.

Less known however, is the story of Seraphina Pitchiner, the daughter of the war hero Kozmotis Pitchiner. She was beloved by many – a single smile from the girl could melt even the coldest of hearts. It was once said that she fended off a mob set out to attack her father with a few kind words and a smile. However, she was just as known for her ability to heal any wound or sickness. What once started off as an accident after her friend fell and hit his head when she was kid, which upon one touch she healed in an instant turned into a profession. She wandered the land, selflessly healing royalty and even the peasants and in return she asked for nothing. No matter what they offered – money, food, shelter -- she never accepted and with her heart-warming smile, told them that their happiness was the only payment she needed.

Word spread of her abilities. People from far off, in places she never heard of sent messengers, requesting her help. Seraphina never turned down a single one.

That is, until she was asked by a brittle old man with white, wrinkled skin, gray eyes and a cane, to make him young again.

Seraphina believed in healing the sick and injured. However, her morals only went so far, and immortality was where she drew the line. As much as she wished she could give back a nice old man his youth, if she granted his request there were bound to be more to come. Soon everyone who feared death would request her abilities to reverse the aging process, and if she said no to them after granting one man’s wish, all that she believed in would be in ruins.

She said so to the old man, and he frowned, gnarly knuckles white from his tight grip on his cane.

 _“You will regret the day you said no to me,”_ the old man boomed before disappearing into the woods.

Seraphina nearly forgot the old man’s words, believing them to be the creation of madness, until news of her father’s sickness reached her. She traveled home as quick as she could, only to see a ghost of her father’s former self lying in bed, weak and blind. When she came to his bedside, he did not respond beyond a wet cough and a whisper of, _“’phina…”_

The girl placed her hand on her father’s forehead, worried when she did not feel the familiar warmth of a fever, but the coldness of a corpse. And most shockingly, when no color returned to Kozmotis’ cheeks. His sickness endured in spite of her healing touch and by the end of the day she gripped his hand tightly, forehead pressed to her father’s knuckles, sobbing and cursing her magic. She even had a servant find a sick child and bring them to her, only to discover that is not her magic that was the problem, as the sick child the servant brought in left, healthy and happy soon after Seraphina placed her hand on their shoulder, but her father.

Her father who finally took his last short, wheezing breath and did not move again.

So broken up she was by her grief, sobbing into her hands, Seraphina did not notice Kozmotis rise from his bed until suddenly the door slammed shut and several voices spoke at once.

_“I told you, you would regret the day you said no to me.”_

She whipped around and saw not her father standing in front of her, but something wearing his skin, smiling down at her with sharp teeth and familiar gray eyes. She jumped out of her chair, backing up towards the window. The monster followed, narrowing its eyes at her.

_“And now with this new vessel, I can take away your free will.”_

Seraphina had no time to dodge – suddenly the monster’s hands glowed red and struck her, hitting her so hard that she crashed through the glass window behind her and plummeted to the earth below.

However, something weird happened. When she hit the ground, there was a bright flash; coming to came with the revelations that she could not move and everything around her seemed bigger.

She could not figure out what she was until suddenly from the shadows the monster emerged, grinning down at her. It reached out with a pointed gray finger and stroked her head. She wanted to snap at him, yell, scream, do anything but nothing happened.

And then in a lilting voice, deep and high from many voices, the monster had begun to sing,

 _“Flower, gleam and glow_  
Let your power shine  
Make the clock reverse  
Bring back what once was mine  
What once was mine…”

What legend described as a black petunia from a single drop of moonlight was really Seraphina Pitchiner, the best healer known to man, now turned into a flower. But to anyone who knew her, she disappeared the day her father did. No one heard anything of Seraphina or Kozmotis for years, and soon they were lost to time – but there was a single man who was not.

With the flower’s magic, the man kept himself young for hundreds of years. No one knew of the flower’s magic until a lost traveler accidentally witnessed Kozmotis’ old, crippled body transform back into one of a young man. The lost traveler then found his way back to a village, and there tales of the flower started. And through the years, the legend had begun to take form.

However, time changed the landscape and what the lost traveler described as a black petunia in front of an old, deprecated castle in an open field grew into a forest, officially hiding the flower from the world.

But in a distant kingdom in India, the rulers did not give up hope. Because you see, Rashmi, the wife of Haroom, the maharajah of the kingdom was about to have a baby. And she got sick, real sick. 

She was running out of time, and that’s when people usually start to look for a miracle. Or in this case, a magic black petunia.

People searched far and wide for the flower, but time passed with no luck; everyone was close to giving up – that is, until a chance encounter with the lost traveler, now old with a long white beard and cane, pointed them in the right direction.

And that’s when they found the flower. It glowed purple in the moonlight and delicately it was dug out of the ground, roots and all, and delivered to the kingdom.

And like legend foretold, the flower healed Rashmi.

Soon a healthy baby girl, a maharani was born, with beautiful black hair.

  
Although Haroom and Rashmi called her by a different name then, the maharani’s name would come to be known as Toothiana.

  
To celebrate her birth, Haroom and Rashmi launched fireworks into the sky. And for that one moment, everything was perfect.

And then that moment ended.

That night, something emerged from the shadows underneath the baby’s crib. It grew and grew and took the shape of the once known hero Kozmotis Pitchiner, who leaned over the sleeping child, scissors in hand. Then, with multiple voices singing at once, the creature sang,

  
_“Flower, gleam and glow…”_

He softly grasped some hair, making sure the baby did not wake and watched with fascination as a purple glow emerged from the crown of the baby’s head and slowly traveled through the strands to the tips.  Readying the scissors, the monster continued to sing.

  
_“Let your power shine  
Make the clock re-“ _

He choked on his words when with one snip, the strands he held died, replaced by not its normal black, but chocolate brown. The part still attached to the baby changed to chocolate brown as well. He stared down at the hair in his hands, shaking before with a loud growl that startled Rashmi and Haroom in their bed nearby, he curled his hands into a fist, turning the hair to dust.

Then, with a grin towards Rashmi and Haroom as they ran towards him, shouting for guards, he picked up the Maharani from her crib and disappeared into the shadows beneath the baby’s crib.  

To this day, no one knows how the man  disappeared with the maharani, as there were no trace denoting his escape. But no one dared to sit on the question for long, as at the time the kingdom was in high-alert and frantic, searching everywhere for the maharani, but no one could find her. For unknown to them, she was hidden deep within the rainforest, living in a dilapidated tower made of stone where the monster, Pitch Black, raised the child as his own.

Every night, through the open window at the top, an eerie purple glow pierced the night. And with it, a beautiful voice. And that beautiful voice came from none other than a young Toothiana, sitting on a stool in front of Pitch, now wrinkled and frail, as he gently brushed her long black hair. But as Toothiana sang, her hair started to glow purple.   
_“Heal what has been hurt_  
Change the fate’s design  
Save what has been lost  
Bring back what once was mine  
What once was mine…” the little girl sang, eyes closed, and behind her Pitch inhaled deeply as his thin, deeply-veined hands filled out, the gray hairs disappeared from his hair and his face become youthful once more. A pleased smile spread across his lips.

The glow disappeared when Toothiana stopped singing. She wrung her hands in her lap as Pitch continued to carefully brush her hair. It was quiet for a while, filled with the soft rustling of her hair and the crackling of the fire in the fireplace in front of her. She pressed her lips together. “I saw a kitty today,” she said, turning her head a little back towards her father.

“Did you now?” he asked. His voice was odd. Each word was short, but drawn out like it had an echo. Toothiana never understood how his voice could echo when hers could not.

“It was fluffy and orange with black stripes.” She pointed towards a line suspended near the window, which had several pictures, wet with drying paint, clipped to it, gently waving in the soft breeze. One picture in particular featured said kitty, made out of paint and Toothiana’s fingerprints. Pitch humored the girl by glancing over at it, but soon resumed brushing Toothiana’s hair.  

“That is a tiger,” he informed the little girl, who aww’ed in fascination.

“It was rolling around in the sun. I think it was smiling, daddy. It was happy, and I…” she drifted off, and swallowed thickly.

“What is it Toothiana?” her father asked, although by the sounds of it, he already knew what the little girl wanted to say. 

And he was right because as soon as she gathered her courage, Toothiana asked in a soft, hesitant voice, “Why can’t I go outside?”  


Toothiana knew the answer already, as the question was familiar and something she asked on numerous occasions. And every time, without fail, Pitch responded, “The outside world is a dangerous place, filled with horrible, selfish people. You must stay here, where you’re safe. Do you understand, flower?”

Toothiana bowed her head with a sigh. She had hoped that for once, his answer would be different. She closed her eyes, imagining giant men, harry and with sharp teeth and glowing red eyes approaching her, cooing to her, “We just want your hair.”

She shivered and opened her eyes, cutting off the daydream just as the men reached out and grabbed her hair. That’s what her father was trying to protect her from. And although she understood, she could not help her disappointment.

“Yes daddy,” she whispered.

However, all feelings of understanding left her when with a pop, light lit up the night sky. Toothiana scrambled up from the stool and to the window, leaning slightly out to watch with wide eyes the magical sight; behind her, Pitch’s grip on his hairbrush tightened and inaudible from the loud pops of fireworks was a dark, inhuman growl. The maharaja never quit.

For unknown to Toothiana, the fireworks were for her. Each year, on her birthday, the maharaja and maharani released thousands of lanterns into the sky, in hope that one day, their lost maharani would return.


	2. Chapter 1

A small colorful bird with blue, purple and dull green feathers and a brown breast flew outside the window to hide behind a potted plant. It breathed heavily and tried to keep still when all of a sudden Toothiana, now a young lady with long black hair parted down the middle, caramel skin and bright green eyes, stuck her head outside the window.

“Ha!” she shouted, grinning triumphantly until she noticed that the bird wasn’t there. Frowning, she leaned back with a sigh. “Well, I guess Baby Tooth’s not hiding out here…” she muttered, about to turn around and continue her search inside when she heard a small twitter. Glancing back over her shoulder with a sly grin, Toothiana walked in place, gradually making each step lighter and quieter, as if she was walking away. And as she predicted, Baby Tooth peeked her head out from behind the potted plants to check if the coast was clear.

Toothiana jumped, shouting, “Gotcha!”, startling the poor bird. She laughed at Baby Tooth’s ruffled feathers and indignant look. “That’s twenty-two for me. How about twenty-three out of forty-five?” she asked, eager to start up another round, but Baby Tooth shook her head.  “Okay, if you don’t want to do that, what do you wanna do?”

Baby Tooth jumped in place for a moment before taking flight, circling the clearing the tower was situated in before circling back to land on the windowsill. She was greeted by Toothiana’s frown.

“You know I cannot go outside and even so, I like it in here and you know you do too.” Toothiana turned her back on the window. Baby Tooth shook her head and flew back inside as well. The inside was not too bad, but not ideal. While it was fun to fly through the rafters like it was an obstacle course, Baby Tooth preferred flying through the trees, swooping close to the ground, spinning and doing loops, something that was close to impossible inside Toothiana’s cramped quarters. But ever since Toothiana helped heal and take care of her after one of her nest mates pushed her out of their nest, which was located in a cavity above the window in the tower, resulting in her landing and breaking her wing on the windowsill, she preferred to stay with the girl then venture too far outside. Like Toothiana, she grew up inside the tower, but unlike the girl, Baby Tooth could come and go as she pleased.

Baby Tooth watched as Toothiana went about her chores: sweeping the floor, polishing and waxing, doing the laundry, then mopping and shining things up. Only to start sweeping once more.

She rolled her eyes and flew over to land on Toothiana’s shoulder as the girl put away the broom to go over to a shelf, which held all her craft supplies and three books. Even though the girl had read the same three books over and over again over the last few years and probably memorized every word, she still plucked them up and read through them on her bed. She went through them quickly; by the time she finished only two hours had passed.

Toothiana huffed and got up to put the books back. “Maybe there’s an area I haven’t painted yet,” she said to Baby Tooth, who searched around for the girl and soon spotted a small area bare of any art. She twittered to get the girl’s attention before flying up to the blank spot.

Toothiana beamed. “Great! Oh, what should I paint this time?” she asked out loud to herself, running over to a chest near her bed, which was full of paint and paintbrushes. She gathered all the supplies she needed before finding the end of her long hair, swinging it, and lassoing it around a beam.  Through some expert maneuvering, she managed to pull herself up to sit on the beam, which creaked under her weight. She ignored it – everything in the tower creaked and moaned as long as she could remember – and got to work, filling the blank area with a picture of multiple bird’s like Baby Tooth, soaring through the sky. At the very front of the flock, she painted herself with feathers, long blue wings protruding from her back and tail feathers hanging out over the back of green harem pants.  Toothiana flashed a smile at Baby Tooth who gave her an unimpressed look right back.

“Don’t give me that look! I had a dream last night, of flying through the sky…it was so freeing! Oh and  the best part was: I got to see the lights, Baby Tooth!” Toothiana sighed dreamily, closing her eyes with a grin. “I soared through them…it was so beautiful. If only…” the dream shattered. Toothiana opened her eyes and glanced away from the painting with a huff. “Tomorrow night on my birthday, the lights are going to appear and, well Baby Tooth, I haven’t told you this yet but I’m going to ask father to let me go.”

The little bird’s eyes widened at the revelation.

Toothiana lowered herself from the beam, put away her paints and traveled over to the small kitchen area to clean off her brushes and hands. She continued talking as she got out ingredients for lunch. “I mean, I’m turning eighteen and it’s not like I will be alone. Father travels out there all the time by himself and always comes back okay, so why wouldn’t I?” She stopped short in the middle of cutting up some chicken, reaching a shaky hand backwards to touch her hair. “My hair…” Not for the first time did she wish her hair was not magical. Maybe then she could cut it. Maybe then her father would let her out. She sighed, something she found herself doing a lot lately, and continued making her lunch. When she was done, she ate beside the window, watching outside. Several birds were chirping, hidden away in the dense trees, and distantly she heard a long, never-ending roar, which her father said was a river.

Looking up into the sky, she imagined the lights, then imagined being up close to them.

“I just hope father lets me go…” she whispered.

.

Somewhere else, miles away in the rainforest, a man laid on the ground, hands tucked behind his head. Nearby was a small, dying bomb fire that crackled, dim light flickering across the man’s features. He was a tall, muscular young man with bright blue eyes, dark brown hair, mustache and a short, pointed goatee.  He wore a leather jerkin with golden buttons and a red doublet underneath, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and thick gray pants tucked into black boots. Beside him were three swords, two of which were the same, but the third was larger, golden, with a handle coated in jewels. Peculiarly, on the blade is a golden orb, which can open to reveal a map of Earth and on the tip is a crescent moon. As great as the sword was, the sword did not belong to the young man, but to a Tsar in Russia. For you see, the young man was not just any run-of-the-mill character, but a bandit. He stole the sword, his greatest catch, if he do say so himself, and worth millions due to the strange metal it was made of.

The man was not alone in his thievery. Several other bandits joined him in the camp, milling about, whispering amongst themselves or tending to the horses, whose reins were tied to the trees.

All was peaceful; that is, until North suddenly sat up, startling a bandit nearby, and gazed into the forest with narrowed eyes.

“North, what--?” one bandit tried to ask, but was quickly hushed by the man.

“Sh! Everyone be quiet, I hear something.” No one dared breath, listening for whatever North heard. It took a while, but finally they heard it: the thundering clap of hooves.

North jumped to his feet. “Everyone, get your stuff and go. We have been found out!” North ordered, and quickly the men scrambled to gather their bed rolls and untie the horses reins. One man dumped water on the fire, distinguishing it. They were just in time, too. Just as everyone mounted their horses, got on, guards burst into the camp and they were off.

“C’mon Petrov,” North said, kicking his horse’s side with his heel. The horse grunted, speeding up, jumping over logs and splashing through water. All the while, the sounds of the guards horses chased him. North lost sight of the other bandits, the forest becoming thicker the deeper they went and soon they parted ways.

“Split up men, these are wanted bandits! Dead or alive!” he heard their captain order. The guards divided up, but the captain’s group continued in its pursuit of North.

Out of all the bandits in North’s group, he was the most wanted of all. After all, you do not just get away with stealing the Tsar’s prized relic without some price on your head. He was sure with his bounty, one could buy their own palace if they so pleased! But he never planned to give them that chance.

He suddenly steered Petrov to the left and before the men could see what he was doing, he jumped off his horse, tucking and rolling to the ground to lessen the impact. Petrov continued running deeper into the forest without him. North quickly dove into the trees, hiding and watching as the guard’s passed. He inched backwards, trying not to make any sound. Once he saw the guards red coats disappear into the distance, he sagged back against a tree with a sigh of relief. “Well, this has been very big day,” he muttered. 

.

“This is it. This is a very big day, Baby Tooth.” Inside her tower, Toothiana paced back and forth nervously. Baby Tooth sat on the window sill, trying to follow the girl’s pacing, but made herself dizzy in the process. She settled with listening to the girl’s nervous mumbling. “I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna ask him. I’m going to say, ‘Father, for my birthday, I want to see the lights!’ Wait, maybe I shouldn’t say it like that, that may be too straightforward. Then again, he doesn’t like it when I don’t get straight to the point…”

“Toothiana!” Her father’s familiar, echoing voice called, startling Toothiana out of her jabbering. The girl’s wide eyes jumped to Baby Tooth’s, who nodded at her, bidding her good luck.

Toothiana took a deep breath and nodded back. “It’s time.” She held out her index finger for the bird, who fluttered up to land on it. “Remember, don’t let him see you,” she warned, waving her other finger at Baby Tooth, who rolled her eyes and flew off to hide somewhere. Once Toothiana was sure the bird was hidden, she took another deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart.

“Toothiana, let down your hair!” her Father ordered when his daughter didn’t immediately come to the window to do so. “I’m not getting any younger down here.” The man looked about sixty now, hair gray and skin wrinkled. Dark bags hung under his eyes. He knew immediately what he would do when he was in the tower, and that was make himself young again.

Finally after what seemed like a long moment of waiting, he saw Toothiana poke her head out the window. “Coming father!” she called down to him. Letting her hair fall through the window to the ground, she waited until her father had a hold of her hair before she started to pull him up.

Toothiana stopped as soon as her father climbed in through the window.

Through her pants, Toothiana managed to croak, “Welcome home, father.”

The man looked up from brushing off his dark robes to frown at his daughter. “What took you so long?” he demanded. Toothiana winced – guess today was a bad day for him.

She searched her mind for some excuse, but before she could even say anything her father cut in. “Never mind. Toothiana, I am feeling a little run-down. Sing for me, dear.”

Toothiana glanced at her father, taking in his rugged appearance, and jumped to do so. Pushing up a chair behind her father, he collapsed into it with a grunt as his daughter rushed to get her stool and hairbrush. Thrusting her brush into his hand, she plopped down in front of him, and before he could even grasp some of her hair, she sung, “Flower, gleam and glow  
Let your power shine…”

Pitch jumped, startled out of his lethargy at how quick his daughter sang.   


“Make the clock reverse—“   
  
Pitch scrambled to grab some of her hair, which started to glow purple at the roots.  
“Bring back what once was mine…”  
  
“Wait!” Pitch shouted, his hand with the brush stuck in Toothiana’s hair.

“Heal what has been hurt  
Change the fate’s design…”

Once he wrestled his hand free, he quickly brushed her hair, the magical purple glow quickly growing.   
“Save what has been lost  
Bring back what once was mine.”

Then with a zap that made him drop the hairbrush, Pitch was young again.

“Toothiana!” he shouted, glaring at the girl.

“So father,” she begun, ignoring his anger as she got up, took hold of his hand and dragged him up from his chair. “Tomorrow’s a pretty big day for me…” she trailed off, hoping he could fill in the gaps, but Pitch continued staring at her blankly. “It’s my birthday!” She smiled nervous and even threw in some jazz hands.

Pitch’s frown deepened as he shook his head. “No, no, no, can’t be. I distinctly remember: your birthday was last year.”

Toothiana’s jazz hands died, but her smile persisted, even though it was now a little more strained. “That’s the funny thing about birthdays—they’re kind of an annual thing!” Pitch acted as if this was a revelation he could not wrap his head around, but Toothiana didn’t give him time to think too hard on it before continuing. “So, father, um…” She played with some of her hair, staring down at her bare feet. “…As you might remember, I’m turning eighteen, and I wanted to ask, uh, well, what I really want for this birthday…Actually what I really want for my birth—want for my birth—“

She started when Pitch raised his hand, signaling silence. He rubbed a knot between his furrowed eyebrows. “Please stop with the mumbling. You know how I feel about the mumbling.”

“Sorry! Sorry, uh, what I am trying to say is that I really, really want to see the lights.”

Pitch’s eyes snapped open. He stopped rubbing his forehead to stare at Toothiana, who would not meet his eyes as she bit her lip.

“You _what_?”

Toothiana jumped, backing up a few steps. She nervously wrung her hair, combing her fingers through it. “Oh, well, I meant to say I was hoping _you_ would take me to see the lights.”

“Not lights, Toothiana, _stars_ ,” he corrected, but Toothiana shook her head.

“No father, _lights_.” She then grabbed the end of her hair, threw it up to lasso the handle of a small door near the ceiling.

With a good yank, the door opened with a groan, letting in light that passed through the room and shone directly on a patch of ceiling, revealing a picture. It featured a silhouette of the tower, every moon phase and the stars.

“I’ve charted stars and they’re always constant—but these—they appear every year on my birthday, father— _only_ on my birthday. And I can’t help but feel like they’re…they’re meant for me.” She release the door handle and her hair fell back to the ground with a whisper. She walked back to her father, eyes wide and pleading. “I need to see them, father, and not just from my window. In _person._ I have to know what they are.”

Pitch stared down his nose at her, eyes narrowed and filled with an emotion she couldn’t classify.

But then he smiled and Toothiana felt her hope soar.

“You want to go outside?” her father asked, and Toothiana nodded eagerly, smiling. However, it soon vanished when Pitch took her hands, which were ice cold to touch, and patted them commiseratively. “Look at you, as fragile as a flower.” Toothiana took her hands back, pressing her lips together, trying to rein in her anger. Pitch tsked. “You know why we stay up in this tower,” he said, reminding Toothiana of the times she asked to step foot outside.

 _“The outside world is a dangerous place, filled with horrible, selfish people. You must stay here, where you’re safe,”_ he would always tell her.

But this was unlike the times before, and Toothiana once again tried to change his mind. “I _know_ , but…”

Pitch shook his head, walking circles around her, hands behind his back. “To keep you safe and sound. It’s a scary world out there with ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals and snakes…The plague!” he listed off.

Toothiana gave a horrified gasp. “No!”

Her father continued, ignoring her. “There is much more: large bugs and men with pointy teeth. The list goes on and on, and I can guarantee you this: something _will_ go wrong.” He stopped in front of Toothiana. “I knew this day was coming, knew that soon you’d want to leave the nest.”

“I only want to see—!”

Pitch’s hands on her shoulders silenced her. “Take it from someone who knows. I know for a fact you would not survive, not with how sloppy, underdressed, immature and clumsy you are.” Toothiana’s cheeks burned red when he glanced down at her bare feet, but trying to hide them from sight only succeeded in proving Pitch’s point when she suddenly tripped. If it weren’t for her father’s grip on her shoulders, she would have fallen face first.

Pitch shook his head. “Ditzy too. And with how gullible and naïve you are, they would eat you up alive.”  Then he patted her head. “Do not give me that look, I’m telling the truth because I love you.”

Bowing her head, Toothiana muttered under her breath, _“The way you say the truth is cynical…”_

Her father’s hand under her chin made her look up at him. Once again his expression was unreadable. “Toothiana?”

She swallowed. “Yes?”

A sudden breeze caused the doors of the big window to slam shut, the only light now coming from overhead. Her father’s face was cast into shadows, the highlighting on his eyebrows and cheekbones a stark contrast to the darkness of his eyes. Toothiana felt a chill run down her spine and her arms goose bump. 

“Don’t ever ask to leave this tower _again_.” The echo of her father’s voice made her shiver unpleasantly.

Toothiana could not stand to meet his eyes anymore, fear coursing through her; she squeezed her eyes shut and answered, “Yes, father.”     


After a moment, Pitch released her chin and patted her cheek. “And if you forget…You _will_ regret it.”

He strolled away, not bothering to console his shaking daughter. Instead he opened the window’s doors again.

“Come Toothiana, let me down the tower.” When he looked over his shoulder, he saw Toothiana rub her nose with a sniffle. She did not dare look him in the eye still, much to his satisfaction. Perhaps he had finally gotten through to her.

Very soon he was being lowered down to the ground by her hair. When he was halfway down, he looked up at the girl, who stared off into the horizon, not even paying attention to her task.

“Toothianna! I’ll see you in a bit,” he called when he touched base with the ground. “And remember what I said?”

“Do not ask again or I will regret it,” Toothiana recited in a mumble, not even caring that Pitch hated it when she did that. Only when his back was turned did she watch him leave. With a sigh and a last longing glance towards the sky, she said, “I’ll be here.”   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a little announcement: I'm leaving for art school on Sunday for a whole month. I'm not sure when I will be able to update this story or any other fan fiction. Please hang on for me, especially if I am unable to update until I get back at the end of July. Thank you!


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